Reader Submission

‘By fostering empathy, critical thinking, and cultural awareness, drama plays a vital role in shaping the next generation of global citizens ...’ Lauren Backhouse – Phase Leader, Upper Primary at the Budapest British International School in Hungary – shares how she has incorporated drama into her own classroom practice to teach Global Citizenship Education.

In Teacher’s first reader submission of 2025, Brisbane-based senior educator Jessica J Griffin reflects on her own leadership practice and philosophy, and how this has changed over the course of her career – moving beyond authority to collaboration, empathy and resilience.

Educators refer to multiple forms of student data to help them plan out the next steps in teaching and learning, including informal feedback, classroom conversations and written assessments. As Dr Anne Knowles explains in this reader submission, student drawings could also be a useful addition to your toolkit.

‘Creative expertise can and should be developed alongside the acquisition of knowledge and skills.’ In this reader submission, Michelle Lucas and Dr Geraldine Townend from the University of New South Wales share how creativity can be nurtured across English, Creative Arts and Science and Technology.

In yesterday’s reader submission, Dr Sunaina Sharma and Wendy Lang discussed their high school students’ anxiety over oral presentations. In this second article, the Ontario teachers share 4 strategies they’ve implemented to build the same speaking and listening skills while reducing the stress level.

After noticing their secondary English students were stressed by oral presentations (and coming up with ways to avoid them all together), Ontario educators Dr Sunaina Sharma and Wendy Lang gathered their feedback to find out more, then set about adjusting their teaching, based on a trauma-informed approach.

Teachers at Queensland’s Balmoral State High School have been working with academics to carry out action research into student use of AI tools and their motivation for doing so. In today’s reader submission, Georgia Wignall and Emma Hart share findings from a literature review and student survey.

The study of classic novels is a staple in many secondary English classrooms across the country. In this reader submission, English and History teacher Alec Santucci shares how he has approached including discussion throughout the learning of the classic novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, with his year 11 students – sharing strategies that have proved effective in his own classroom for enhancing student engagement

As education departments begin to integrate generative artificial intelligence into teaching and learning in schools, Rebecca Collie and Andrew Martin share findings from their research into how teachers value and integrate generative AI in their practice, and the role of school leaders in supporting or thwarting this.

‘As schools implement the next iteration of the Australian Curriculum, the concept of historical significance is consistently alluded to within syllabus documentation.’ In this reader submission, English and History teacher, Alec Santucci, defines ‘historical significance’ and shares some practical methods for promoting historical skills in the classroom.